


Goodbye, Mike

by NiamhM101



Category: IT (2017), Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Hopper and Billy are alive, Mike dies and everyone is sad, Other characters mentioned - Freeform, Richie Tozier and Mike Wheeler Are Twins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-25
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2020-07-19 16:00:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 1,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19976716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NiamhM101/pseuds/NiamhM101
Summary: In the events of Stranger Things 3, episode 8, Mike dies instead. Each chapter focuses on a different person’s reactions of the news





	1. Max

**Author's Note:**

> I got an idea :) *shrugs*
> 
> Also don’t kill me

She was the one who woke up a few feet away from where the Mind Flayer had attacked them.

Max had seen Mike and was immediately over there, trying to get him to wake up.

“Mike, Mike wake up. Mike? Mike can you hear me?”

Why wasn’t he moving? Why wouldn’t he wake up?

She had moved him only slightly while shaking him to see if there was any reaction, but that’s when she saw it.

Blood, too much blood coming from his head.

“No....no no no no no no. Mike? Mike! Mike please....please...”

She was crying now, desperation sinking in.

The two of them had usually never gotten along, but it didn’t mean she wanted him to be....

Well. It was too late now.

“I’m sorry,” she kept whispering, as she got to her feet.

“I’m so so sorry.”

She didn’t want to leave, but she needed to find El, and Billy.

And the monster who killed her friend.


	2. El

She nearly died, but the Mind Flayer was gone.

Billy had came to his senses when she reached out, with the memories she had seen, and in that moment the Mind Flayer was powerless.

The portal was closed, Max was fine, Billy kept apologising to his sister as they hugged.

Where was Mike? Why wasn’t he with Max?

She didn’t want to leave them, if she had a choice she would have stayed to make sure they were okay.

“I’m sorry,” Max was saying, and...crying?

“Max,” she said, “where’s Mike?”

Max cried even more. “Gone.”

Impossible.

“What?”

Don’t cry, she might have misspoke, she could be mistaken.

“He’s dead.”

No, no way. Not Mike, no.

She ran, to go find him because it wasn’t true. It couldn’t be.

“Mike...”

She found him.

“Mike. Mike!”

He wouldn’t move, she was crying now, in desperation.

Max was holding onto her, trying not to cry more than she already had.

And eventually she had to let go and let Max hold her as she cried.

“Mike....”

She could have done something, but she didn’t.


	3. Lucas and Will

They knew something was wrong when they saw Max crying, and then she and El running off.

Mike was nowhere in sight, and even if the Mind Flayer was gone and Billy was alright there was still this tension in the air because a member of the party (with the exception of Dustin) was gone.

“I know Dustin says this all the time, but I don’t feel good about this,” Lucas said as the pair headed down to the ground floor.

He had almost lost Will, he couldn’t stand to lose another one of his friends.

Max and El came back in tears, and his heart was gripped by fear.

“Where’s Mike?” he said, already dreading the answer.

El cried even more and sank to the ground.

Max stepped forward, she put her hands on his shoulders and looked down at their feet.

“Mike was....thrown against the wall by the Mind Flayer. Lucas, he hit his head really bad. I’m really sorry,” she whispered the last part.

He knew what she said and he knew he was crying, but other than that he couldn’t react.

But he didn’t protest when Max hugged too tight, he didn’t seem to notice Will beside him looking so lost and so heartbroken and sad.

He couldn’t react to anything else as his mind caught up to the knowledge that he would never see one of his friends ever again.

........

Will hated Mike after their fight, but he quickly forgave him of course.

He never wanted something like this to happen, he had missed his best friend when he was in the Upside Down and he would never forget how Mike stayed by his side when the Mind Flayer tried to take over his body.

Will couldn’t believe what Max said about Mike was true at first, but her crying and El sobbing her heart out and even Lucas getting teary eyed seemed to be enough.

When he reunited with his mom he was so relieved, because he knew his heart couldn’t take it if he lost someone else.

“What happened?” his mom asked him when she saw him crying.

“Mike, he....he’s gone, Mom. He’s dead.”

And he cried even harder and she hugged him even tighter.

He hated his best friend a little bit more because he never got the chance to tell him how he felt and now, now he never will.


	4. Nancy

She couldn’t find her brother, El and Max and Lucas were in tears, and Jonathan was trying to get Will to talk to him.

She needed Mike to be okay because yes, he could be a major pain most of the time, but she still cared about him.

And right now she needed to find him.

She ended up running off, ignoring Jonathan’s cries. She saw where Max and El had ran to and came from, she knew it was something to do with her brother and why he was missing.

She never expected to find...well, you know what she found.

“No.....no!”

She was on the ground in seconds, in tears and crawling over to where he was.

“No....Mike, please, no.”

She had already lost Barb, her best friend.

This was her little brother.

“I’m sorry...I’m so sorry.”

She could remember the days she would get mad at him, like the night he stole the money from her piggy bank.

But he just wanted the money to spend time with his friends, one of them had been missing for days on end as well and lucky to be alive in the first place.

She should have been better, this was her fault. 

What was she going to tell her mom, her dad, and Hollie?

God, she couldn’t...she couldn’t even begin to imagine having to have that conversation.

She was found by the paramedics and she let them take her brother away.

She was unable to answer any of their questions without bursting into tears, which she was only a little bit embarrassed about.

When Jonathan saw her again he hugged her without a word.

She was very grateful.


	5. Hopper

He found El in the parking lot seconds after Joyce had found Will and Jonathan.

“I’m so glad you’re okay.”

He noticed she was crying, and it was then he realised who among the group was missing.

“Where’s Mike?”

She cried even harder and he panicked because if anything happened to that kid...

He could act tough all he wanted, but deep down he knew he cared about that so called son of a bitch.

“Joyce,” he called, making his way over. El followed closely behind.

“Hopper,” she said, softly, her eyes welled with tears.

That’s when he could see it.

An ambulance with a stretcher, a blanket over a body.

“Hey....Hey!”

It wasn’t true, it couldn’t be true.

He made El stay with Joyce and marched right on over there.

“Chief of Police, you’re not going anywhere until I identify the body.”

They pulled back the cover, and it was then that it finally sunk in.

Mike was really gone.

He could hardly believe it.

The kid could be a brat sometimes, but overall he had been a boy in love with a girl he met one night in the woods.

And Hopper had secretly cared, of course he had, but he didn’t want anything to happen to El and his overprotective nature surfaced.

He should really have been more worried about possible supernatural entities that could come back to haunt them.

But it was too late now.

If he had stayed behind maybe none of this would have happened, but he knew it wasn’t his fault or El’s or any of theirs.

The next hardest thing to do was to tell the rest of the Wheelers.

But before that, he needed to find a way to stop himself from crying.


	6. Dustin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Featuring Steve, Robin and Erica

Steve and Robin had borrowed Hopper’s car to collect him and Erica.

“Oh my god, we saved the world! It was awesome!”

He was so happy, he had no idea whatsoever.

The deal was they wouldn’t say anything unless he asked.

“Hey, is everyone okay?”

Steve pulled over to the side. “I’m gonna tell him,” he said to Robin.

She just sighed and said okay. No use in delaying the inevitable.

“What’s happened?” he asked instantly from the back.

Erica groaned. “What did my brother do now?”

“It’s not about your brother,” Steve replied, and the tone in his voice was enough to silence the two backseat passengers.

“The Mind Flayer is gone,” he went on, “and we managed to save Billy, but...the monster attacked Max and Mike.”

“Steve, what are you saying?” Dustin asked, panic taking over.

“.....Mike didn’t get up, Dustin. Head injuries.”

It was a few seconds before there was any kind of reaction other than sitting in possible shock.

“No. No no no no no no no no no, he-he-he-he-he can’t be, Steve. He can’t be.”

“I’m so sorry, man.”

Dustin threw open the door and ran out the car, screaming profanities.

“Oh shit,” Steve muttered under his breath.

“Go supervise, we’ll be fine,” Robin said.

The designated babysitter unbuckled his seatbelt and ran out after Dustin.

He was just screaming, and tears were going down his cheeks, and he sounded so full of pain and misery already.

“Hey! Hey! It’s okay,” Steve said.

Of course Dustin wasn’t having any of this.

“No THIS IS NOT OKAY, STEVE! YOU HEAR ME!? NOTHING ABOUT THIS SITUATION IS AT ALL OKAY!”

He would not be calm any time soon, and Steve didn’t know what else to do, so he hugged him.

Dustin struggled at first, wriggling desperately to get out of his grip but Steve knew and he knew that this was absolutely necessary.

“I’m okay,” Dustin muttered after a few minutes.

He wouldn’t be for a long time, but at least he didn’t have the urge to punch someone anymore.


	7. Richie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Final Chapter
> 
> Pennywise doesn’t exist in this AU

His twin brother was dead. Not the kind of news he had expected to hear when his brother’s foster sister had called the house.

Yeah, he could hardly believe it.

In a daze he found himself walking along the road to his best friend’s house.

Hopefully Eddie’s mom would be out like Eddie said she would be for everyone coming over.

He walked up to the door and knocked twice.

Beverly answered, and at first she smiled upon seeing her favourite person (don’t tell the others) but she quickly saw the unshed tears.

“What happened? Bowers? Some other asshole?” She was immediately into defence mode as if she needed to kill a bitch.

The tears streamed down his cheeks, and he sobbed.

“Oh, Richie....” She didn’t hesitate to pull him into a hug.

“Bev, Richie, what happened?” Eddie asked, coming over.

“We- we just got a call, f-from my brother’s f-f-family in Derry.”

Bev and Eddie were patient, they knew whatever it was he would tell them whenever he could get the words out.

“He-He died last night.”

“Oh Richie, I’m really sorry,” Bev said, pulling her friend into a hug once more.

Eddie joined the hug as well, as his best friend cried. He knew how close the two of them had been and so he knew how much Richie must be hurting.

There would be weeks of hurt, of grief, of running away and going missing for days at a time and crying.

But for now, it was quiet, and sobs, and a hug that seemed to last forever.


End file.
